


She Chose Life

by WordsDontMeanShit



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, GoT 8x06, Spoilers, alternative ending, gendrya is endgame
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 10:17:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18892624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WordsDontMeanShit/pseuds/WordsDontMeanShit
Summary: Alternative Ending where Gendrya is Endgame. Arya and Gendry end up together and you can't tell me otherwise.





	She Chose Life

**Author's Note:**

> The episode was kind of boring in my opinion- they wasted time on pointless scenes instead of tying together the rest of the storylines... and the ending was unsatisfying if you ask me. However, regardless they messed up the ending because Arya and Gendry belong together so I fixed that. Hope you like my alternative view on what happens. :)

            Jon’s fate had been decided- a compromise that no one was truly happy with, but at least Jon would live. The Council meeting ended with everyone heading home to their respective lands. Arya locked eyes with Gendry, who came to represent the Stormlands. They hadn’t spoken since the night that Gendry proposed to her because Arya left for King’s Landing to kill Cersei almost immediately. A suicide mission if she was being completely honest with herself.

            Arya managed to survive. Sandor saved her one final time by helping her choose life over her vengeance. Now it was time for her to live, and have a possibly uncomfortable conversation with her dearest friend.

            Arya walked slowly, trying to figure out exactly what she should say. She looked at Gendry, who stared back with an unreadable expression. She worried that he might be upset at her for rejecting his proposal. She had wanted to say yes to him, but she was never a lady. Her mother was, as well as Sansa. Arya had a limited view of what being a lady meant, but she knew better now. She watched Sansa gained the North’s independence and she had always been a lady. Arya and Gendry would rule the Stormlands together as equals Arya learned that she didn’t have to compromise herself- she could both be a strong woman and a lady, who fell in love with a bastard that became a lord.

            Once Arya finally reached him, only one word came out, “Hi.”

            “Hello,” Gendry replied, with a shy smile. He seemed happy to see her even though there was a bit of awkwardness between them.

            “How are the Stormlands, my lord?” Arya asked, teasing him with his new title to show that nothing had to change between them- they would always been friends first.

            Gendry chuckled, his smiling growing wider before replying, “Wet. It kind of reminds me of our travels through the Riverlands, where it just constantly rained.”

            Arya laughed a genuine laugh before bringing up his proposal, “We haven’t seen each other since Winterfell.” _Since you proposed,_ she wanted to say.

            Gendry’s face fell immediately. “Arya, we don’t have to talk about that. Let’s forget that I-”

            “My answer is yes.”

            “Yes? But you said-”

            “I wasn’t ready to say yes when you asked. I thought that I needed to kill Cersei. I held onto revenge for so long that I didn’t know who I was without it.” A single tear fell, which Arya immediately wiped away. Gendry simply smiled at her, taking her hand in his.

            Arya had been ready to die when she left Winterfell. She was ready to die to get her revenge, but Sandor had talked some sense into her. As she tried to escape King’s Landing, she was running toward her family. Running toward him. Gendry was a part of her pack- he had been since they were children on the run together.

            “Arya, are you sure?”

            “Yes. I want to be with you- it has always been you. I love you too. I didn’t say it back when you said it, but that is how I feel.” She cupped his face and gazed into his warm blue eyes. Gendry looked at her with so much love and adoration before leaning down and kissing her gently. She reciprocated the kiss, putting her hands through his raven black hair. She didn’t care who saw them- being with Gendry felt right.

*****

            Arya watched as Jon approached them. She was upset that Jon couldn’t return to the North as a free man, and was sentenced to the Wall. A compromise was made to save his life since the Unsullied insisted on his punishment though he did what he had to do to save Westeros from another mad ruler. The Unsullied were leaving Westeros as well, there would be no one to enforce his punishment. Jon could return North if he wanted to, though Arya knew that Jon was an honorable man, who kept his word- like their father.

            Sansa spoke with Jon first, hugging him goodbye.

Jon approached her next, touching her face and Arya couldn’t no longer hold back her tears. She would miss him- she didn’t know if she would ever see him again. “You know you can visit me,” Jon reminded her. She needed to hear that, maybe they would meet again after all.

            “I will,” Arya immediately promised, “though it will be a far journey.”

            “Far? The North is the closest place to the Wall,” Sansa chimed in.

            “I’m not going North.”

            “Where will you go,” Jon asked, while Sansa said “What?” at the same time, both clearly confused by her answer. She smiled through her sad tears as she explained. “I’m going to the Stormlands.”

            “The Stormlands?” Jon asked.

            “Yeah,” She looked down at her feet. “I’m going to marry Gendry and be Lady of Storm’s End.”

            “You are willingly becoming a lady?” Sansa asked though both she and Jon were shocked.

            “I plan to change what it means to be a lady. I realized that I can be a lady like Sansa and my mother was as well as a strong, fierce warrior woman. I can have both love and rule the Stormlands. I hope that other little girls will learn that as well as they see more strong women in places of influence.”

            “I hope that you are happy little sister. Gendry is a good man,” Jon added.

            “He is,” Arya agreed. He would never expect her to be anything that she wasn’t.

            Arya pulled Jon into a hug, never wanting to let go.

*****

            Arya hugged Bran and Sansa goodbye- though it wouldn’t be forever. She would see them again.

            “I will miss you both,” Arya said with tears in her eyes. She couldn’t stop crying today.

            “We will see each other again,” Sansa affirmed, crying as well.

            “I’ll visit Winterfell- maybe even bring my future husband and any children that we have.”

            “You will always have a place in the North,” Sansa stated, pulling Arya into another hug. They had both grown so much since they were children. It was tough saying goodbye.

            “You are always welcome in King’s Landing,” Bran added, “Though I know how much you dislike it here.”

            “This place holds too many bad memories,” Arya replied with a sad smile.

            “You ready?” Gendry asked, finally approaching her and her siblings. He kept his distance so that Arya could properly say goodbye to her siblings.

            Arya nodded while Sansa threatened Gendry. “If you hurt my sister, the North will rain hell on Storm’s End.”

            Gendry just chuckled, “I will keep that in mind, though I think Arya can handle herself, she did slay the Night King after all.”

            Arya smiled as she took Gendry’s hand, walking toward their horses to leave this awful city behind. Arya chose to live so that is exactly what she was doing.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments make me really happy. :)


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